Dissociation is the mental process where a person detaches or disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, memories or sense of identity. Dissociation can range from mild daydreaming to severe, when they may not recognize themself or being able to see things outside their perspective like from the ceiling and it may be foggy. Severe dissociation can develop into a disorder such as: Depersonalization/Derealization disorder. When someone feels stuck in a dissociative state, it may require medication to bring them out of it.
People dissociate as a way to cope in response to trauma, stress or overwhelming emotions. It is an effective way for the mind to distance itself from distressing experiences as a form of protection. Dissociative Amnesia is when you are unable to remember distressing or traumatic events. It is most likely to affect those with severe or long-term trauma, including abuse, neglect, violence or a traumatic event like losing a child.
If you have ever wondered why within your life, there are big gaps in your memory, dissociative amnesia happens in an effort to protect you by blocking out traumatic experiences. In most cases, the memories are still there, you just can't access them. People affected by dissociative amnesia are4 much more likely to self-harm or have suicidal behavior. Dissociative amnesia happens when dissociation causes memory loss. There are 2 types:
Retrograde- affects your ability to recall events.
Anterograde- blocks the ability to form new memories.
There are 4 categories of dissociative amnesia:
Selective- affects 1 event at a specific time period in your life. You will remember some things, but not the event.
Generalized- affects all memories for months or years.
Continuous- affects your ability to form new memories, so it happens as events occur.
Systemized- affecting all memories under a particular topic or category. Can apply to memories of a person, or group of people. such as high school.
These cover the different types of dissociation, what they can develop into as well as the ways dissociative amnesia presents itself in your life.
